3 minute read
Treating The Illness
Bristol uses compassion to help with homelessness
Recent reports from the 2024 Point In Time Count have suggested that homelessness in Connecticut is rising. For a state that was once on the cusp of eliminating chronic homelessness, it is a major setback. With Supreme Court case Grants Pass v. Johnson exacerbating the issue, it’s never been more clear that change is needed. Bristol is another city that is taking a look at the way things were done in the past, and asking if that is the correct way to go forward.
The question came up in mid-July of this year when unhoused individuals were set to be evicted from an encampment that was set close to train tracks. According to an article from the Hartford Courant, that plot of land was sold by the city to private owner, leading to the eviction and cleanup.
Cities and states as a whole have been more aggressive in these efforts as of late, as the homelessness crisis builds. Governor Gavin Newsom of California personally participated in a clean-up effort, while down in New Haven residents of one encampment were removed from dangerous conditions next to the West River that routinely floods.
The primary issue is what happens before, during, and after these clean-ups happen. Just three days before the set date, Mayor Jeff Caggiano decided on another path – to try an encampment-to-housing model. Cited in the Courant article, Caggiano said “the goal is to place the encampment’s residents into apartments where they can receive wrap-around services including health care, substance use treatment, therapy, and job training.”
Credit for this encampment-to-housing model is given to the Clutch Consulting Group, although housing first models have existed for some time. Their movement is responsible for some of the best responses in the nation, including in Houston where “the number of people deemed homeless in the Houston region has been cut by 63 percent since 2011,” according to a writeup in the New York Times. They also work in the Hartford area.
The model has seen the support of Sarah Fox, CEO of the Connecticut Coaltion to End Homelessness, cited in the Courant article saying that it needs to be funded, “but it’s an intervention that works.”
Ultimately, the crux is on the will and funding of this issue. Whether it’s in Bristol or America’s fourth largest city, this isn’t a one-solution issue. And the experts who deal in this crisis know that prevention, getting there before or immediately as homelessness strikes an individual or family can be a game changer. But for all our best efforts, individuals end up unsheltered. Mayor Caggiano said, “we need to treat this like we treat lots of other symptoms and illnesses, until we solve those (underlying problems), we would just be cleaning up place after place.” Centering the human, treating the problem often means finding the humanity in every situation.
